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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Image from FlickrThere has been a frustrating situation at school for the past couple of weeks. I talked to my team (OT and SLP) and my boss about it and presented my data, but still didn't feel like I had a good grasp on what the data was telling me. Finally, following a teachers meeting I casually mentioned what was going on to a couple of other teachers and one of them had the answer in under a minute. It all seemed so obvious and so much more workable once I had that input.

I am wondering, how do other special educators, working in intensive special education classrooms, get input from their "job-alike" colleagues? One of the things I love about this field if the ability to work on my own according to my own timetable at whatever pace my students demand and at the same time on of the things I find most difficult is how isolating that can be at times. Please comment and share what works for you.

Kids Wish Network 3-18, with a life threatening disease, be able to communicate their own wish, no other wish through another agency, USA

Make A Wish Foundation this is the one everyone has heard of, 2 and a half - 18 at time of referral, no other wishes, referred medical personnel, parent or self, express own wish somehow, INT

Chef David Kid's Chef David has survived 5 kinds of cancer and focuses on granting small (compared to cruises and trips to Disney World) wishes to kids (and the occasional adult) with life threatening diseases or who have survived violence, INT

Fairy Godmother Foundation terminally ill adult (18+, less than a year to live), must be able to communicate and comprehend wish that is their own desire, first wish granted through such an agency, must be safe, legal and not all travel expenses can be covered, USA

Muscular Dystrophy Association will fund AAC for student's who have a condition covered by MDA (such as muscular dystrophy or mitochondrial disease), an evaluation recommending a device from an SLP, a prescription from a doctor at an MDA clinic and have been denied coverage by health insurance or have no insurance), the amount changes annually - this year it is 2,000 dollars

NOCK accepts applications from children who need AAC devices or wheelchairs and have exhausted all other means of funding

The Disabled Children's Relief Fund accepts grant applications to provide goods and services need for children with disabilities who cannot otherwise afford them or attain them

Many of the top AAC companies have funding assistance and/or funding guides, such as Dynavox, just go to the website and look or call and ask

Finally parents or families may choose to take out a loan to purchase on their own (not recommended, if the student is in public school the school is legally required to purchase an AAC device if it is needed to make educational progress). Here is the RESNA listing of state AT loan programs.

Friday, May 23, 2008

As part of the course I just finished teaching on free assistive technology I created a Del.icio.us page of links for the participants. We are all continuing to add to the links and it is quite a collection. I invite you all to use it as well it is here at Del.icio.us/tewksteaching.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

This link brought to you by reader Jeannie from Lesley College and Seem Collaborative in Massachusetts.The Every Day Life Project is a free, membership required, website designed to teach learners how to do life skills tasks in a failure free environment. Other parts of the website have lessons on math and money, computers and online literacy classes. Though not intended for intesive special needs many of the materials are appropriate or adaptable. It is about life skills, literacy and success. Here is what their web site says:

What is the Everyday Life Project?

The Everyday Life project uses interactive, situation-based lessons to teach functional literacy skills. This new approach to learning allows learners to apply their basic literacy skills to real-world situations so they can gain the confidence and skills to be successful.

Why Teach Functional Literacy?

The lack of literacy in the United States is a very real problem. 22% of people tested in the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) scored at the Basic level in document literacy, representing 44 million Americans that do not know how to apply their basic literacy skills to everyday life.

Individuals at the Basic level can read the texts they encounter; however, they may struggle to integrate and synthesize information, and perform quantitative tasks with multiple steps.

Our goal is to help these 44 million people reach the Intermediate level and obtain the skills they need to succeed.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

All You Have to Do is Start an Assistive Technology Blog (but it has to be your first blog ever.)

Deadline June 15th

Start a blog on your use of assistive technology in the classroom, at home, in your daily life or children's life, etc. We need more folks contributing their experiences and opinions on AT use and AT products. Be creative and start a blog here at Blogger .Rules:1. This must be your first time to start a blog2. You must post at least 2 times a week3. Your post content should be making a positive contribution.

Learning Magic is our sponsor for this contest. They have wonderful educational software for Intellitools, Clicker 5, My Own Bookshelf and more. The winner will receive any original program from the catalog! Their link ishttp://www.learningmagicinc.com/ Send your blog link to me at: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com Make sure to put "Blog Contest" in the title of your email. The winner will be selected randomly and announced June 16th.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I do agree that this is very disappointing, .We as the pikikids creators do try and moderate the site as much as possible.Of course as this is an internet website we don't control what image appears as the coolest comic as it is community voted by the users of the site, we do of course moderate this as often as possible so I would say it was very bad timing that this comic happened to be voted as the coolest just as you guys looked it it.

You may note that all comics can be reported as offensive by users and they are atomically remove from the site

We can create a site for you that is separate from pikikids, with your branding and you can moderate this.

RegardsGreg PentlandPikikids

Dear Greg,

Disappointing? Seriously? Is that what you had said if the word "N***r" or "F****t" had slipped through? Obviously you have no idea how offensive that word is. I don't want to moderate my own site, I want you to take responsibility for yours.

One other thing. This is a site for KIDS. Children, who by their very nature are likely to make bad decision that need moderating. Who in their right mind would decide not to moderate for offensive or prejudice before they move something to their home page?

My little blog only get 300-500 hits a day, educators all, but my blogger friend Larry Ferlazzo already re-posted my story about this and his hit count is many, many times mine. You should think about how detrimental it is going to be to alienate all those educators for the sake of allowing your community of children to make bad decisions.

Of all the links I shared with the group today the best received were:

Dipity for Timelines with planned use in literature, history and science

Voicethread for multimedia presentations with planned use in all subjects, but the most excited teacher planned to use it to with her art class as a way to have her students share their projects with their sister class in Japan (other teachers were excited to use for authentic reading and math assessment)

Bubbl.us for mind maps with planned use in multiple subjects in the upper grades one teacher commented, "imagine doing that in Word? No way!"

Class Timer for, well, timing things, with planned use to aid transitions and time tests

I hate to tell you this, but you blew it. Really blew it. I am a technology specialist (and a special education teacher) and today I was teaching 27 educators about ways to use technology to promote universal design for learning. One of the ways I was suggesting they do this was by using online comic creation tools, like Piki Kids, to have students summarize materials or to teach social skills. Unfortunately when I logged on and your site glowed onto my giant screen there was the giant word "retards". What were you thinking? How could you possibly think it was alright to feature a comic that used this offensive and belittling slang word for a person with a cognitive disability as your "coolest comic"?

Needless to say there are now 27 teachers, plus me, who will not be using Piki Kids. And I am posting this letter to you on my special education blog, as a warning to other special needs teachers to stay away from your offensive web site. Like I said, you blew it.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Image via WikipediaThis morning we were setting up for the day and as we fired up one young lady's Dynavox DV4 we discovered everything on it was gone. Poof! Hundreds of hours of work by the SLP, dozens of hours of work by me, all of it gone. I spent almost an hour on the phone with Dynavox tech support and managed to get back most of it. There will still be weeks and weeks of reprogramming, but we were lucky and we know it.

Therefore I am calling all of us out there - teachers, SLPs, parents, users - to back up AAC devices this week. Take the time to save all your hard work just in case something goes wrong!

Friday, May 16, 2008

To install your new Boardmaker symbols, please follow the next few steps.(Windows)1. Close Boardmaker if it is currently running.2. Locate and open the Boardmaker with SD Pro folder. If you used all of the defaults when you installed Boardmaker, it will be located on your (C:) drive in the Program Files folder.3. Open the Symbol Folder.4. Place the Boardmaker symbol files (.pc2 files) in the MJ Symbols –Additional folder.5. The new symbols have now been added to your Boardmaker library and will be ready next time you open the program.

(Mac)1. Close Boardmaker if it is currently running.2. Locate and open the Boardmaker folder. In most cases, this will be located in the Applications folder.3. Open the Symbol Folder.4. Place the Boardmaker symbol files (.pc2 files) in the MJ Symbols – Additional folder.5. The new symbols have now been installed in your Boardmaker library and will be ready next time you open the program.

These directions are directly from Mayer-Johnson, they came with my completed symbol request today (for symbols related to putting on a coat - they are awesome). I am posting them mostly so I can find them myself later!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Sarah has multiple disabilities from stroke. This video shows her using a Quick Glance system (with The Grid software; Dynavox 5 Software and Boardmaker SDP also available on the Quick Glance/Eye Tech SGD) to communicate. The device shown is now available smaller and with more portability. However the device costs about the same as a Dynavox or PRC plus the cost of the eye gaze controller which is slightly more than the device itself. Let's hope these prices come down!

Please note that the Quick Glance eye gaze controller cannot be added to any current AAC device on the market. The competitor to the Quick Glance is the Tobii, but it does not allow the head and body movements that the Quick Glance does and does not interact with off the shelf software as well as the Quick Glance. (I know because I have tried them both.)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Today there has been an interesting discussion on the QIAT Listserv about how to find out the reading level on text. A number of websites were listed that can be used to look up a book and also two technology assisted Do-It-Yourself methods.

Do-It-Yourself Method One: Search Amazon .com for the book you want to know about (try searching within the category (children's book). Scroll down to "Inside the Book" and choose "text stats". Ta-da! There is the Flesch-Kincaid reading level, the 100 most common words in the text and more (i.e. word per dollar)!

Do-It-Yourself Method Two: What about online text? Text you have written yourself? Try using Microsoft Word! Highlight a section or all of the text in Word then go to "tools", under "spelling and grammar" choose "option". Now click on "Show Readability Statistics". Wow!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

This is a guest post written a couple of months ago by my friend and classroom speech therapist as part of a program wide in-service she ran for our staff. The inservice was great and focused mostly on AAC and a new device run on eye-gaze called the Eye Tech Speech Generating Device (which blows the Tobii out of the water) that has opened new doors from some of our students.

WHAT IS THE POINT? OR WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM?

Expression of wants, needs and emotions may get basic needs/desires satisfied.

The ability to declare a dislike may result in a change in the behavior of others.

Being able to provide basic information about their personal care will result in the improvement of that care.

Communication may allow the manipulation of their environment, including commanding animals (directives to pets), playing games, recreational activities.

It is of necessity in a crisis to provide basic biographical information.

Interacting with others brings about social closeness.

Telling jokes makes others laugh and promotes humor between partners.

Writing letters to family and friends helps convey current events in their lives.

Literacy skills allow access to the curriculum.

WITH WHOM DO/SHOULD THEY COMMUNICATE?

In a perfect world, our students would interact with everyone with whom they came in contact. In reality, they tend to choose adult caregivers as partners in communication. With prompting, they will look to peers, but that is with reinforcement from adults who often will repeat what they have already chosen on their devices.

WHERE and WHEN ARE THEY MOST LIKELY TO COMMUNICATE?

In structured situations when being asked direct questions. This may be thought of as contradictory, as we are asking them to think of their devices as their voices, then are giving them limited opportunities in which they can be accessed. This includes the home setting where they may not be used at all.

HOW CAN WE HELP TO INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THEIR DEVICES WILL BE USED AND USED EFFECTIVELY?

Provide the device to the student in as many situations as possible.

Reduce the number of direct questions that are asked. Think about the number of times the student has been asked repeatedly for information. If it is necessary for the student to provide that message, try to engage in a conversation which may elicit the same response or use an open-ended format.

If possible, program random messages onto frequently used buttons. For example, “How are you?” could also say, “How’s it going”, “What’s happening?”, “What’s up?”, etc. In doing so, think of each student and his/family and what might be appropriate. If possible, ask for feedback from the student.

Make each device personal with messages relating to home and family. A “news” button is helpful and can be dedicated to home, school or both. This encourages use/communication between school and home.

In trying to reinforce the device as the student’s voice and encouraging its use at home, remember that we cannot push familial boundaries

Try using the device with the student without talking. You will discover what messages are missing as well as its limitations. Ask yourself: Am I bored? What would make it more fun? (think music, jokes, messages to friends). More interesting? (questions, reactions). How difficult is it to navigate?

Then make a list and we go back to the drawing board and with the student, begin to re-program the device to make it more user-friendly.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Students Treasures is a company that publishes hard bound copies of student books. They use the writing, illustrations and photographs created by your students and publish them. One of the great things that they offer is a free copy of your class book as long as you send home information to parents so they may purchase a copy. The offer is for grades K-6, but as a non-graded classroom teacher i sent away for my publishing kit today. I plan to offer my students a choice of creating a book about disability awareness or transition. Click here to order a publishing kit.

Sitris is web 2.0 application that may be useful for those with speech disorders. Essentially Sitris is a web basedAAC system that allows users to pre-program phrases and/or use text-to-speech to communicate on the phone. The concept behind Sitris is to offer AAC to those who do not need an AAC device but have problems being understood on the phone. As the system is text based it may be limiting to users with cognitive impairment in addition to speech issues, but users may be able to memorize which buttons to click by location or sight words.

Sitris also allows AAC device users to access there services via the web on their device, use their device to program phrases into Sitris and then Sitris to make their phone calls. This seems a little over-the-top for most AAC users as they can likely already use their device to access various forms of telecommunications, but perhaps there are possibilities I am not seeing.

Sitris offers 50 free minutes through a trial account with registration. After that the cost is $9.95 for 100 minutes (in the US for US calls). Sitris is not recommended for 911 calls.

Ideally an evaluation for an augmentative/alternative communication device for a student is a team effort including the student, the family, the speech language therapist, the teacher and other specialists like an occupational therapist, physical therapist, a teacher of the vision impaired, a teacher of the hearing impaired and others.

The primary role of the teacher is to offer information on the students cognitive and social abilities and needs and to assist with teaching the student how to use the device and obtaining information from the family. The secondary role is to assist the SLP is gathering the information he or she will need. This may include collecting information like diagnosis, current communication methods and more. It may include helping with the trial of a device.

It is fairly universal that every student will have to have a trial or rental of a device (with addition equipment for access if needed) to collect data and determine if the device and access method is appropriate in order to secure funding.

One of the ways that teachers (paraprofessionals and parents/home caregivers) will be able to greatly assist in the process of securing an AAC device is by collecting data during the trial period of the prospective device.

In the classroom we can set up systems to help the SLP collect the information he or she will need to include on their evaluation they will send to Medicaid/Medicare or a private insurance company to secure funding.

Some of the things the SLP will need for the trial review portion of his or her evaluation are:

the environments in which the device was using (i.e. the classroom, cafeteria, library, community including retail and public locations, vocational settings, after school activities such as scouts, sports, religious education/services)

Here is a link to an adapted reading journal using picture symbols students could fill out using labels (with or without pictures) pre-printed either by a student using a program like Classroom Suite to "type" and then printed onto sticker paper or pre-printed by a parent or teacher. This alternative jounral could be submitted attached to a copy of the journal filled in by the teacher or a parent (to give non-readers/non-writers or alternative readers/writers) some ownership of filling out the form.

In other, similar programs and contests many store managers will let older special needs student participate or compete at their ability level or using adaptations (book on tape, screen reader, adapted texts). Usually this is up to the local store manager, so go ahead and ask if your older students can participate. It can't hurt.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Image from FlickrI was tagged for this meme by Pat over at Successful teaching. I love reading other people's memes but I have never been tagged before.

The Rules…1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player's blog.4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Questions…

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?Ten years ago I was a few weeks shy of my undergraduate degree at Simmons, where I was a student in a five year combined BA/MS program in intensive special education. I was doing my clinical teaching at Franciscan Children's Hospital/Kennedy Day School and looking for an apartment, I eventually landed in Jamaica Plain in Boston.

2. What are my 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

pay off my brother's bills so he will have some nieces and nephews for me and then make sure he has money to bring them home to visit twice a year (or more, but Hawaii to Massachusetts is brutal)

start my own special needs school focused on AAC and AT for learners with multiple special needs

5. Three of my bad habits:

procrastination

letting my introverted side win and not socializing very much

not enough attention to a healthy diet and exercise (hmmm.... if I were a billionaire I would pay someone to make me healthy meals and snacks, but I doubt I would bother to increase my exercise very much)

6. 5 places I have lived: I have never lived outside of Massachusetts. Inside Massachusetts I have lived in Chelmsford, Boston (Fenway, Jamaica Plain, Beacon Hill), Lowell, Haverhill

7. 5 jobs I have had: Personal Care Attendant, Physical Therapy Aide, Camp Counselor/Director, Research Assistant, Language Lab Clerk (I was thinking of writing "lab rat" because in college I volunteered as a subject for studies to make cash, but it isn't really a job)

Today I am messing around with the Firefox extension from PLB, the teacher's toolbar (it is also available for IE). So far I am liking it, although I don't usually like extra toolbars or sidebars eating up my screen. The toolbar features a Google based search box and drop down boxes in a variety of catagories that hold links to check out. Some of the catagories are Professional Development, News (links to mostly ed related blogs), Classrooms, Tools, Tech, Jobs, Ask&Tell, Grants and Safety. There is also a radio tuner (love it!), Skype link, Weather button and an Email Notifier.

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This is a personal weblog. The opinions (and they are only opinions) expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer (including but not limited to current, former or future employers). Nor of any universities or colleges I attend or have attended. I do not and will not disclose the name(s) of my employer(s).

As a personal weblog this blog is written by a person. Just one measly person. A special education teacher who thought it might be a nice idea to give back. Sometimes I post lots and sometimes I don't. I often make spelling errors and typos. Sometimes I have a bad day and post a ranting message. I am very open to new ideas and changes to the blog, so e-mail me and let me know what you would like to see. I am a real person, so be nice, would you?

All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. This blog, Teaching Learners with Multiple Needs, makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, recentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. Don't like what I say or how I say it? Don't read it! Or better yet, fight back, get your own blog!